160 Tasting Notes

This is, officially, my lowest rating yet. I actually feel a bit bad about taking the time and energy to write about a tea that I just didn’t like. Still, considering how expensive this particular blend is (thankfully mine was a random gift) I feel that I should put my opinion out there for people to read if they consider trying it.

First off, I am sure that there will be people who might enjoy this. Everyone likes different tastes and different things, and that is just fine with me. I, personally, did not like this at all.

It smells artificial. If you could make plastic smell like cherry, I am sure that it would smell something like this. It also had some scent that made me think medicinal. Not enjoyable at all.

I have had it twice so far. The first time I had it, I could barely drink it. Unsweetened it tasted a lot like plastic with a cherry aftertaste. I sipped it until it cooled down and then chugged it down once it cooled down to quickly finish it and make something more tasty. The second time I added A LOT of brown sugar. To my surprise it was much better! Not any less artificial though… Sadly, I don’t up the score much because I am sure that sugar did more to make me like the flavor than the actual tea did…

Sweetened it tasted a lot like cherry Twizzlers, the kind that you can pull strings off of and eat it one strand at a time. It actually wasn’t horrible, but I don’t think that you should have to add soooo much sweet to a tea in order for it to be drinkable.

If this were a really cheap tea, I feel like it might make a nice really sweet ice tea. It is not cheap. I will not be purchasing it. Ever. Tough I must admit that I will eventually drink through what I have with insane amounts of sugar or sweetener. Maybe I will try to make insanely sweet and expensive iced tea… Hmmm…

I second Amy oh. I have written one real bad review (for Teavana’s Youthberry Blossom, or whatever they call it). I didn’t feel too guilty because it just wasn’t good and there was no tea flavor at all. If a “tea” tastes artificial, then they’re doing it wrong, in my opinion.

Ninavampi: I would call this an honest review; and I know for me, being honest
isn’t always fun, and doesn’t always feel good. But, in the larger context, someone who reviews a tea they don’t like—and then especially tells me why they don’t like it (as you did here by taking great pains to point out what your particular tastes are)—simply adds credibility to their positive reviews; in other words, I believe them when they tell me that they like it. I hope that makes sense, and I hope you will continue to be honest in your reviews! : – )

I actually view the rating system here on Steepster as being about the experience of having a cup of tea, not the quality of the tea itself. I really appreciate a review like this — I love cherry tea, but I’m not one for these kinds of flavor. It’s nice to know which ones have which kinds of flavorings, and for that I thank you for making an honest review of this tea!

This particular tea has been one I have wanted ever since I read about it here on Steepster. My favorite breakfast food has always been cinnamon rolls and tea is my favorite beverage, so both, combined, seemed like heaven to me. Sadly, it was sold out, and I would read over and over everyone’s reviews over and over in hopes that one day I would be able to try it!

One day, I was super excited to find that Frank had revived this! I couldn’t order it fast enough! In fact, I ordered two packs at once, confident that I would love this. It was a long wait, but I eventually received my two packs (and an extra of Pancake Breakfast!). I was at the office, and I didn’t have time to sit down and enjoy it, but I opened it and sniffed it. It wasn’t one of the blends that immediately took my breath away, but it was pleasant. :3

As soon as I got home I brewed it. I couldn’t wait to try it! Sadly, when I did, it wasn’t what I expected at all. I tasted the cinnamon, but I got no dough or icing. To make matters worse, there was a sour aftertaste that, I assume, came from the honeybush. I was desperate to like it. I tried longer brewing time, shorter, sweetened, no sweet, milk… I was almost resigned to give up on this tea. I had been so excited… I decided to put it up, and try it later.

This tea showed up in the 12 Days of Christmas I decided that the time to try this again was approaching. Finally, today, I gave it another try.

I brewed it for much longer than I meant to, my dogs distracted me, and what I meant to be like 4 minutes ended up being more like ten. To my pleasant surprise, it smelled really really good. I sipped it and it tasted even better!!! I got the cinnamon and dough, the icing, and very very little (thankfully…) odd aftertaste! I then sweetened it with honey. I rarely do this, but today I felt that honey flavor would add to the cinnamon roll effect. I was right! It was absolutely cinnamon-roll-doughy-creamy-sweet-sticky goodness!

The second brew was still very good, just not as flavorful. I drank it happily as well.

I am really happy that this tea finally came through and proved its deliciousness! I love it and could drink it everyday. I am actually considering another back up pouch… hmmm….

@Amy Oh- Me too! I don’t usually get along with rooibos (usually only like green rooibos in small quatities) and Honeybush just has not been great with me. But I think I finally got this one right! : )

I had never had proper Pu-Erh before today. I had had flavored nest Pu-Erh, which tasted nothing like what I experienced today.

My Dad went on a business trip to China, and I asked him to bring me some teas. Since he knew no Chinese and pretty much nothing about tea, he asked the translator to choose for him. I ended up with a small heat of teas, one of them being this one. : )

Since I had never had a cake of ripe Pu-Erh before, I decided to brew it Gaiwan style. I felt it was a little harder to mess up this way.

The smell of the dry leaves was… fishy. I can find no other word that accurately describes the entire experience of my first excited sniff of this tea. If I try to get a little more accurate, it smells like fish wrapped in leather that was a bit moist… Actually, I have no idea what this would smell like, but my imagination says that would be something like this Pu-Erh…

I rinsed it and after a quick brew, I ended up with a gorgeous peach colored liquor. The scent was still heavy on the leather covered fish. I waited for it to cool down a bit and took my first nervous sip. To my honest surprise, I liked it! Thankfully, it tasted nothing like it smelled. The taste was smooth and woody. It had a leather note that was followed by planty earthiness and ended in a finally of sweetness that reminded me of oolong. I still wonder how something can smell so different than what it tastes like (I am really happy that it does…)

I didn’t love it, but I am really happy I got to try it. I have an entire cake of it, and I imagine that it is going to take me forever to drink through. I might take a large chunk of it and let it age in the dark for a couple of years. I am going to have to read more about Pu-Erhs before I make up my mind.

In the mean time, I am happy and content for having been able to try this! : ) I am not rating this because I have no other equivalent in memory to compare it with. Maybe one day I will try more Pu-Erhs and be able to give them a number, in the mean time, the review is all letters!

:D I liked reading your story along with this review. I just got my first Pu-erh also! I am keeping the wrapper so I can look at it later. I’m pretty nervous about trying it but my biggest issue atm is how to break it apart. lol

@Tamm- I also had an interesting time trying to figure out how to break it as well. After a while I gave in and used a knife to pry off enough for my cup! Pu-Erh has been an adventure for me so far! A fun adventure! : )

Tamm, I found a very simple way to break apart a pu-erh cake is to get one of those quite small flat head screwdrivers. Like the ones you would use to fix your glasses or some other tiny screw. It is flat enough to gain leverage, while blunt enough not to damage the tea, but allow you to pry off parts.

Packed pu-erh can be quite packed. Be careful you don’t crack the chockstick.

With a flat cake I use a paring knife and slowly wedge it between the layers to pry them apart and once the layers are thin enough you can flake them apart by hand. That probably won’t work as well on something round like a tuocha. Something sturdy like an ice pick or a narrow tipped screwdriver (as already suggested) would be well suited provided you can work deliberately and slowly with it and not just hack away at it.

There are a lot of pu-erh nerds here on Steepster so if you need more information about this particular leaf or pu-erh in general, you’ll have more information than you could want, I’m sure. The primary thing to remember is that ripe/fermented/shu pu-erhs and raw/green/sheng pu-erhs are pretty different from each other so experiences with the one rarely carry over to be relevant to the other.

Happy New Years!!!! : ) I hope that this year brings everyone success, happiness, love, and lots of good teas to try and share!

I started off my new year by having one of my recently discovered favorites. Yummm… Pancake tea with crepes and my family was the perfect way to start off the first day of the year! My Doggies (Sencha and Mona) slept soundly after a night of Fireworks (which both amazed them and terrified them… It was cute to watch!).

This tea doesn’t stop putting a smile on my face, no matter how many times I drink it. I am seriously considering getting a third pouch of it before it is sold out. I think that Frank should add this to the permanent collection for 2012!!! ; )

Today the dough and syrup played in nicely with the black tea. Even though it is unbearably hot today in Quito, my warm cup of tea was delicious! Oh pancake tea, please don’t ever stop being so tasty a nommy!

Vanilla is my favorite flavor. No ifs, ands, or buts… When I saw that French Vanilla was one of the teas in the 12 days of Christmas (day 8 if I recall correctly…) I was thrilled! Vanilla and from 52teas… Wow… My hopes and expectations soared!

The only bad thing about getting so excited is that your expectation become exaggerated and may lead to disappointments. This was my case this time around… I didn’t write a review on the first day I had it because I had gotten myself so worked up about trying it, that I was sad after I dad. A week and a few days later, after reading how much others liked it, I picked it up to try again. I am happy I did!

The leaves smell more like cream than vanilla to me. The more I smell it, the more it reminds me of vanilla ice cream and not just plain cream. The black tea base is very prominent, but this isn’t a bad thing at all.

The resulting darkish brew is vanilla tasting, but still prominent on the cream aspect of it. Without any sweetener it is an enjoyable smooth creamy tea, I didn’t get straight vanilla. With sugar added, the vanilla peaked through a bit more. The creaminess of it was the most notorious aspect to me. The black tea base was a little astringent; I felt that this obscured the vanilla a tad.

The second brew was more enjoyable to me. The astringency played down and the vanilla was still strong enough to be evident. Half unsweetened and the second half of it sweetened. Both enjoyed!

Worth trying, enjoyed it, not my favorite vanilla, but it is still a good one! : )

Preparation

I had the last of my first pouch of this tea today (from the 12 days of Christmas sampler). I liked it a little bit more… but not enough to ever want it again. It does taste exactly like pop corn, and I think that this is the reason that I can barely drink it. My brain keeps getting in the way and my tummy is doing summersaults and asking me why I keep drinking this bizarre thing that I keep feeling like should be chewing and added salt to…

So… I actually have a second 12 days of Christmas set from 52teas (long story… But I am very happy to have a second of most of the teas!). And I am more than willing to ship off the unopened sample of this tea to someone who hasn’t tried it yet! I don’t need anything in return, just keep posting reviews, reading makes me smile! : )

If you are interested, post a reply to this tasting note or go ahead and PM me. It will go to the first person to get in touch with me who hasn’t tried it yet.

I have been on a roll with 52teas. I have been enjoying every one I tried. I guess I can’t like everything and lucky streaks can’t last for ever.

It took me a while to decide to purchase this, but I like vanilla, mate and mint enough that I eventually gave in. As soon as it arrived I opened it to sniff at it. It coated the inside of my nose with “toothpaste” smell. Not what I was expecting. It was very sharp. After this experience it took me a long while to urge myself on to try it.

I steeped my 2 teaspoons to 12oz of boiling water. The smell of the brewing tea was much more pleasant than the actual leaves. It smelled smooth and creamy reminding me of Creme de Menthe. At this point I became a little more optimistic about liking the tea.

I tried it unsweetened and I got sharp spearmint taste. The vanilla was there, but not as smooth as I was expecting it. The Mate flavor was permeating through all the other flavors. Its woodiness and slight bitterness reminded me throughout the cup that this mint had caffeine! It reminded me of Root beer, except it was hot (not really a good thing…).

Once it cooled down I found it a little more palatable, but I can’t imagine me actually wanting to have more of this… I will try it iced, which might work well since I do like Root beer (cold…).

Oh well…

Preparation

This reminded me of the first encounter I had with one of Franks teas. Not because of the similarity in flavors, but because of the intense smell that greets you as soon as the package is open. On this occasion it was mouth watering vanilla and spices. I think it was just what I needed tonight! The puppy is still growing and has decided that her favorite pass time is bothering my older dog. It is exhausting to control her after I am used to my trained and well behaved older doggy. I can’t wait for her to grow up! : ) In the mean time, vanilla, spices and black tea will carry me along.

I believe that this was supposed to be the 10th tea of the 12 teas of Christmas, but tasting it got postponed due to holiday craziness (though I did open it and sniff on the correct day!).

Did I already mention that the smell was spectacular? I think so… But I will repeat it, the smell was amazing! Vanilla and Spices and if I thought about it I could even get a hint of the caramel. Impressive.

I steeped 2 teaspoons to my 12oz of water. 3 minutes of wait while I drooled to the scent of spicy vanilla. Drum-roll and…. wow… so bitter… Added milk and sugar… Better, but bitterness still there… The aftertaste was good vanilla and spice, so I was determined to keep trying.

Second cup steeped for 2.5 minutes with only 1.5 teaspoons for my 12oz. After 2.5 minutes of fingers crossed, I had a first sip. Hmm… Not bad! Much less bitter and still about the same amount of spiciness! As an added bonus I got a tiny bit of caramel something that added to the vanilla. Milk and sugar added and it became delicious! I had to try really hard not to gulp it down. After that first sip, the caramel got lost to me, but the vanilla and spices worked wonders!

Now, I have two cups of Caramel Vanilla Chai in my belly and two doggies fast asleep. Aaahhh… Pure bliss! : )

Preparation

First, and most importantly, Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope that celebrations were joyful and full of love!

Second, I have been a bit absent due to all of the craziness of the holidays, but things are returning to more normal and manageable pace. I haven{t been able to drink each of the Twelve Days of Christmas on the correct days, but I have been opening them on the right days. : )

This was the last of the series. I was really excited to find out what it was going to be! I opened the little packet right before we started opening Christmas gifts with my family. I was really happy when I smelled chocolate. I couldn’t place the scent as a whole, but the chocolate was jumping up and down and waving its hands at me. I was happy when I finally peeked and saw it was milk and cookies!

I steeped it and ended up with a pleasant brown liquor that smelled just like Chocolate Chip Cookies (the scent reminded me of the smell that hits you when you open a package of Chips Ahoy!). Unsweetened it tasted pretty generic. Just black tea that was vaguely chocolaty. I added brown sugar and the result was much more like what I was expecting. Sweet chocolate showing up first and cake/cookie hanging out as an aftertaste.

This is the first time that I felt that the tea base in 52teas got in the way of the flavoring. It was a bit astringent for cookie. It didn’t stop me from enjoying two cups of it (the second even more sweetened and even more cookie like! : ) )

I really liked this tea. Didn’t quite make it in to the “league of my favorite teas” but it was just what I wanted for Christmas present opening and family sharing and celebrating.

Once again, Merry Christmas to all! Thanks for sharing your thoughts through tea with all of us! It is a gift I cherish every day! : )

Preparation

Another wonderful day in terms of Doggies getting along! Yay! In terms of work, on the other hand, it has been long and intense. Thankfully it is now over and I am free to enjoy my tea and my dogs!

I settled down with a cup of this, the 7th tea of the 12 days of Christmas from 52teas!

I was happy to try this blend. The other cheesecake tea from 52teas that I have tried (pumpkin cheesecake) I loved, so this was exciting to say the least. The smell of the leaves was oddly fruity with a coconutty aroma hanging out in your nostrils. The shredded coconut looked tasty and beautiful in the honeybush.

I steeped it the smell was all coconut. It reminded me slightly of sunblock, which is supposed to smell like coconut, so I guess this is a good thing. First sip unsweetened was smooth and creamy, sweetened the creaminess was even more notorious and the coconut shown through even stronger than before. The coconut in this blend doesn’t taste artificial, in fact, it is the the most realistic coconut flavor I have ever tasted in a tea!

My only issue with this tea is that I got 0 cheesecake flavor… Oh well… Still really enjoyable though!

I really enjoyed this cup of tea, but personally, I feel that the wonderful flavors may stand out more with a black tea base! : )